We were enjoying a weekend of camping on the North Shore of Minnesota and hiked on one of Minnesota’s most iconic trails, The Superior Hiking Trail (SHT). The SHT is 296 miles long going from Duluth, MN to the Canadian border. The section we planned on hiking is touted as one of the more challenging sections of the SHT because of the undulating trail but also one of the most beautiful sections because of the views you see as you climb up three ridges. The trail is also known as the Twin Lakes Trail. At 6.8 miles long with 1600 feet…
Jay Cooke and Tettegouche State Parks
The weather was finally looking warm enough for us to head up to the North Shore here in Minnesota. I grew up camping in the beautiful state parks along this scenic section of Minnesota and I was anxious to take Jack to some of my favorite parks sooner rather than later. The tricky thing is that Lake Superior makes for some cooler, more breezy weather so keeping Jack warm at night could be more difficult. But, with highs in the 60s and 70s and lows only in the 40s and 50s we felt confident that we could successfully camp and…
Fish Lake Trail
We have been back living in Excelsior, Minnesota for about a month now and have been busy getting settled in our newly purchased home as well as making up for lost time with family and friends. When an April day had temperatures in the 70s and the forecast was calling for sun we couldn’t resist spending the day outside! We drove about an hour from our home to Bobby’s childhood home, a beautiful dome that his parents built in the 70s nestled amongst the trees and a wetland. Bobby spent the morning helping his dad cut firewood while Jack and I…
Beckler Peak
Bobby and I have decided it’s time to move our family back to our roots in Minnesota where Jack can grow up surrounded by the family that loves and misses him so dearly. With only two weekends left in Washington we’re choosing our hikes carefully. It had been 16 months since my last peak when Bobby and I began discussing where we should go for our hike this past weekend. I used to be able to hike 20 mile days. Since having Jack anything over 5 miles sounds like a marathon and anything with over 1500 feet of elevation gain…
Teneriffe Falls
The weather in Seattle was unusually warm and sunny for January so Bobby and I decided to join the majority of the population and head for the mountains for a day of fun in the sun! We headed out early in the hopes of beating the rush since we were planning on hiking to Teneriffe Falls which is very popular and the parking is notoriously bad. We left home just after 8:00 a.m. after having fed Jack his morning oatmeal and fruit for breakfast (yes our little hiker is already eating solid foods!). We arrived at the trailhead around 9:00 a.m.…
Annette Lake
This was the weekend I overcame a lot of fears on our hike. Usually I really enjoy hiking with a group of friends, but hiking with a baby sets a whole new pace and there are a lot of variables that could alter your plans at any moment. The one other time we had ventured off with a group Jack had an enormous blowout in the parking lot of the trailhead, delaying our departure for about 30 minutes. I decided it was time to get over my fear and we invited some friends to join us for a hike. Bobby…
Blue Lake
I awoke early on Saturday morning and decided to wake Bobby up with those seven little words every man wants to hear, “Where do you want to hike today?” He shot up like he’d been awake for hours and immediately started planning where we should go. The day was to dawn bright, sunny, clear, and not too cold. A rare November day that would be picture perfectly beautiful. The North Cascades highway was still open, according to WSDOT, “Avalanches typically close the highway between late November and mid December. Reopening in the spring is usually accomplished by early May.” We both feel that the North Cascades…
Twisp River Suites
We had headed to the North Cascades for a beautiful day hike at Blue Lake and were looking for a place to stay for the night. Without an infant in tow, and the numerous stops along the way that that brings with it, the hike would have been a 3 hour drive from our home in Seattle to the trailhead. The drive ended up taking us 5 hours. We had packed overnight bags and headed to the nearby town of Winthrop, about 32 miles from the trailhead, hoping to find a place to stay for the night. As soon as we got…
Merritt Lake
Every year a group of our outdoorsy friends gather for a “Multi-Sport Weekend” in September when the crowds have thinned and the weather has cooled. In the past we have done some dirtbag camping, finding a large enough campsite at a roadside pull-off and roughing it. Now, as we are getting older and babies are being born, we find a cabin centrally located amongst numerous possible activities is far more desirable. This year we headed east on Highway 2 and found a cabin that was large enough to fit 12 adults and 2 babies. It was about 20 minutes west…
Bean Creek Basin
After a successful first night of camping for our 6 week old baby boy, Jack, we drove halfway home and stopped for a hike in the Teanaway. We have been doing easy, family friendly hikes since we found out we were going to be parents last October. Mount Pilchuck was the last hike I had done that had more then 2000 feet of elevation gain and that was almost a year ago! I was eager to get back into the higher elevations so Bobby found a hike of 5 miles with 2000 feet of elevation gain, whose description boasted incredible views of…